NaLu Apocalypse
by pinkdragon7878
Summary: Lucy Heartfilia has a normal job, and a normal life. But what happens when an unexpected power shortage hits and something goes incredibly wrong. A NaLu Zombie apocalypse story. Mostly NaLu, But other pairings will appear as well. My first ever fan fiction! Enjoy:)
1. The Beginning

**A/N**

Thank you so much for reading this it really means a lot to me:) This is my first ever fan fiction, but constructive criticism would be so awesome and really encourage me to keep writing this story.

Thank You!

Disclaimer: I do not own fairy Tail or any type of Zombie TV show or movie

 **NOW, ON TO THE STORY!**

Lucy groggily rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as she dragged herself out of her bed. She sat there for a few minutes waiting for her brain to wake up a bit more before she got ready. After a few minutes of just sitting there, she stood up and clambered over to her bathroom to take a shower and freshen up a bit.

She let out a sigh of pleasure as the hot beads of water kissed her skin. She really could never get used to the wonderful feeling of her whole body turning to goo from the warm sensation of the steaming hot water relaxing her entire body right down to the bone.

Turning off the faucet feeling completely energized, she stepping out of the shower, and wrapped herself in her favorite fuzzy pink towel. She proceeded to move out of the bathroom, and back into her bedroom to her dresser. She glanced at her clock and a sudden wave of panic rushed over her.

"Oh no I'm gonna be late again!" she yelped as she tried to slip on her work clothes as fast as humanly possible. She skidded into the kitchen and grabbed an apple as she raced out the door, slamming it behind her.

 **XOXOXOX**

"I'm so sorry I'm Late!" Lucy huffed as she raced into the grocery store and grabbed her apron. _"This cannot be happening again!"_ She thought to herself as she imagined what sort of fate her boss would have in store for her this time. She cringed when she remembered what her boss told her yesterday…

 _"_ _If I see you burst in through those doors late one more time, I'm going to have you stocking shelves for the rest of your life! You hear me Heartfilia? NEXT TIME WON'T BE SO PRETTY."_

Lucy felt a shiver once more at the thought as it appeared in her mind. She was taken out of her thoughts when she felt a tap on her shoulder.

"KYAA!" She shrieked as she jumped so high she could have easily been mistaken for a crazed monkey. She slowly turned around to meet her doom, when she was not met with the face of her boss, but rather her co-worker and best friend Cana.

"Wow, calm down there princesssss." Cana slurred with a mocking smirk on her face. Lucy could obviously tell that she was drunk. Again.

 _"_ _Apparently this grocery store doesn't have very high expectations for its workers. Considering most are either drunks, or teens who couldn't find better job. Plus, I am always late for work so this place's standards can't be that high."_

"Cana, you're drunk again? I thought that the boss told you that if you came to work drunk again you would be fired." Lucy let out a sigh, completely forgetting all about her being late situation.

"Well I wasn't drunk when I got here." Cana pouted "I drank a few when I was on break. There's a difference Lucyyyy."

Lucy rolled her eyes at this. "Besides, didn't the boss say that if you were late again the you would be 'stocking shelves for the rest of your life'?" Cana said the last part in an over exaggerated voice, attempting to impersonate their boss.

At that moment the lights flickered then all of a sudden simultaneously shut off. Both Lucy and Cana turned to each other with the same puzzled expression on their face. After about 15 minutes of waiting, they heard the familiar static buzzy sound of the intercom turn on.

"Hello, this is Greenie's Greens using the emergency power line to communicate with all of our shoppers and employees. There has been an unexpected power outage in the city, and we encourage all shoppers and employees to head home. The power plant called and said that they aren't completely positive when they are expecting the power to come back on, so they sent the message that all citizens should return to their homes until they can figure out what caused the problem, and get the power up and running again. Thank you for your time."

And with that the announcement was over. Lucy and Cana both looked at each other for a moment before Cana smiled.

"No work today!" She cheered excitedly. Lucy just stood there for a moment. "See ya tomorrow. Maybe! If we even have work tomorrow!" Cana Cackled to Lucy as she ran out the doors of the store.

"Well I suppose I should head home too." Lucy sighed to herself as she returned her apron and headed out the doors to her house.

On her way home she saw more people than usual on the streets. "I assume it's only natural due to the power outage. People are probably just returning to their houses like I am."

 **XOXOXOX**

As she continued her walk home she felt like something was a bit off, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was. " _Maybe it's the amount of people on the streets? No. That can't be it…"_ She took a closer look at her surroundings. More specifically the people.

"What… What's going on." She started to panic at what she thought she saw. Just to make sure she wasn't imagining things, she took a closer look at what she thought she saw.

And she wasn't imagining things.

What she saw was real.

At this point she was running. She didn't care if she stood out in the crowd. She was running and she was running _fast._ "How can the others not notice this?"

 **XOXOXOX**

She had finally made it back to her apartment after bolting down the streets every which way to get back home. She opened the door and slammed it behind her the fastest she had ever in her life. She leaned against it to catch her breath and slid down till she was sitting on the floor panting.

"Is this really just a power shortage? " She asked herself while attempting to slow her rabid heart palpitations.

"It can't be. Can it?" She didn't even believe the words when they came out of her mouth. "Those people…" She tried to catch her breath once more.

"They… They weren't normal. Some of them… most of them looked sick." Her face paled when she thought of the next words she was actually about to tell herself. "They almost looked…"

"Dead."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N**

Thank you so much to anyone who favorited, followed, or especially reviewed! It honestly was the reason this chapter was posted so fast. I love you all so much, and you're the reason this chapter is here! ENJOY!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any type of zombie-type-thing.

Lucy couldn't believe the words that came out of her mouth. She couldn't. That sort of thing only ever happened in those cheesy, old school horror movies.

"No." She tried to convince herself. "No. No. No! This is all just a really, really bad dream! You'll wake up any moment now."

A moment went by. Then a few moments. Then three minutes…

"No." her voice was barely above a whisper. "This is real." She pulled herself up from the ground and walked over to the window. More sick people, or whatever they were, had gathered on the streets now.

She couldn't stay here, it was too dangerous, and she didn't want to risk getting the sickness or disease that they carried with them. But she couldn't leave either. Not with all of the sick people heading closer, and growing in numbers outside of her home. "How could they even be so sick, and still be walking around outside?" She wondered aloud.

All of a sudden her radio turned on by its self. She walked closer to it. She could hear some one talking through it, but couldn't exactly make out the words they were saying due to the amount of static that made the voice sound incredibly grungy. She began messing with the knobs and antenna, trying to get clearer audio. Lucy let out a groan of frustration. "Damn radio!" she furiously yelled, chucking the radio across her apartment. It hit the wall and fell to the floor with a small thud. The static started to clear and Lucy could hear a few audible words materialize from the old radio.

She instantly scurried over to it and listened.

"Emergency … Broadcasting. Zzzz… Science... Facility. Zzzzzzz… major accident….. Don't.. let. zzzzzz touch….you.."

 _beeeeeeeeeeeeep._

"What did it mean don't let something touch you." She asked to herself. Then it dawned on her.

"They couldn't mean…" She walked back over to the window. When she got to it, she could see something that scared her so bad, she couldn't even move. She just stood there gawking at the horror in front of her. "What kind of Hell is this?" She chocked.

It wasn't just the sick person that freaked her out, it was the fact that the sick person closed in on what seemed to be a normal human being…

And _bit_ them.

"Oh God… I think I'm going to be sick…" She could literally feel the vomit begging to make its way up her throat and out of her mouth. She looked again. There was blood this time, and the person didn't look conscious anymore. They just lay there on the ground. In a pool of _blood_ she might add. She was pretty sure that they were dead. If she wasn't in a frenzy before, she was definitely in one now.

"I know! I'll call the police and ask what's going on." She said, complete hysteria washing over her. Then she realized her mistake. "Right, there's no power." She hesitantly walked back over to the window. "Huh?" She questioned aloud. "Where did they go?" She noticed that outside where the person had been lying, there was the puddle of blood, but no person accompanying it. Her eyes wandered the hoard of people, only for her to take in a sharp breath of air. She was right, the person wasn't on the ground any more, they were _walking_.

Yep, she was pretty sure she was loosing it. "I… I have to get out of here. It's not safe." She looked around her home. A frown found it's way onto her face when she started to think. "Where will I go?" She thought a bout it for a moment.

"The next town over doesn't have as much people. If I go there, there may not be as many of these _things._ " She rushed to her closet to grab her backpack. She knew she was going to have to pack lightly so she could get to the next town as soon as possible. She searched for what she thought was essential for her journey. Her first stop was her kitchen and opened her cupboards to find lots of boxes of cereal, and even more packages of ramen. "Man, you think I'd have some real food… Oh well, I guess this'll have to do." She muttered while stuffing the packages of ramen and small boxes of cereal into her empty bag. Next she rushed to her closet again to grab a flashlight, small first aid kit, a pocket-sized tool kit (if her dad was still alive, he would nag her about bringing it with her in case of "emergencies"), a rope, some spare batteries for the flashlight, and her water bottle.

She was at her dresser, picking the clothes she would need, when out of the corner of her eye she spotted her desk. She dropped everything and cursed herself for almost forgetting. She yanked open the bottom drawer where she kept her journal. Snatching it from its home, she hugged it tightly to her chest.

"I can't believe I almost forgot about you!" After the brief reunion with her most precious possession, her eyes drifted to the spot where it once lay. Underneath it was a picture of her and her parents. She gently placed her journal onto her cluttered desk, and reached for the picture. Looking at the picture, she felt a sharp pang in her chest. She didn't really like to keep that many pictures of her parents out where she could see them, it pained her too much to think about what had happened to them and all.

Sliding the picture in between the pages of her journal, that held all of her precious stories in it, she slipped it lightly into her backpack.

As she turned to head out of her apartment, when she suddenly her dad gave her that tool kit, he also gave her something else to go with it. The reason it never occurred to her, was because she hated the idea of something like _that_ in her apartment.

She hesitantly walked over to her nightstand where said _thing_ was held. She cautiously opened the drawer and blankly stared at the thing that had haunted her ever since she was ten years old. She picked up the pistol and stared at it quietly a bit more.

"It's been a while hasn't it?" She spoke just barely above a whisper to the gun that was held tightly in her hands. Without knowing it, her hands balled up into fists. Horrible memories she didn't want to ever see again came back to her in a flash. Tears instantly stated to run down her face as she recalled that night hiding under her bed and hearing her parents' screams from the other end of the house.

"I'll bing this." She chocked trough her tears. "I have to be strong. I can't hide again. Not like last time. I don't want to shoot anyone, but if those _things_ out there try to attack me, I wont let them get away with it!" She shakily stood up from the ground still holding the weapon in her hands. "I wont become a part of this horrible cycle!" She shoved the gun in the outside pouch of her backpack and ran to the door of her apartment.

"I'll be back." She whispered before she shut the door one last time for a while. Jumping down the stairs of the apartment complex, she could already feel fear as she got closer and closer to the exit of the building. When she was at the bottom of the stairs, and idea came to her.

"Maybe there'll be less on the streets if I leave through the alley way." Lucy walked to the back of the apartment. Seeing the door that lead the alley didn't help her anxiety levels. They were already skyrocketing through the roof. She clenched her chest, trying to slow her racing heart palpitations.

"Come on Lucy. You can do this. It's just a quick little stroll to the next town over, Yep! Nothing to worry about!" She encouraged. "All you need to do is go out there, and not die! Easy enough!" The pep talk didn't really help calm her like she wanted it to. In fact, it made things much worse.

"Oh God! I can't do this! I'm literally insane for thinking I can pull something like this off!" Before she could back out of it, she put her hand on the knob and turned it. There was a loud creek, and the door opened revealing a rather dark, narrow alley for the time it was. It was only one in the afternoon.

She stuck her head out and peeked both left and right to make sure the cost was clear for her to make her way. Luckily it was.

"Whew! For a second there I thought I would run into one of those things." Lucy said relief extremely obvious in her voice.

XOXOXOX

She walked for about 50 minutes, unbothered. After about an hour in a half of walking, she took a break.

"Man! I'm starving!" She groaned exasperated. She decided she would sit down against the side of one of the buildings in the alley. Lucky for her she had been able to find a route that would keep her pretty safe, and off the streets. She reached into her backpack and dug around for a bit until she could find what she was looking for.

"Got it!" she cheered as she pulled out a small box of cereal. She opened it up, her mouth practically watering at the thought of eating it. While she munched on the crunchy sugariness of her favorite cereal, her mind wandered a bit as she thought about the whole "sick-people" situation. "What could have even caused this whole thing? I know that the power went out and all, but that couldn't be the whole cause, right? She wondered aloud. She wasn't going to lie; it did feel quite strange that this whole thing would be cause by a power outage of all sorts of possible outcomes. Her thoughts then drifted back to earlier in the day when she listened to her radio. "And what was that all about." She pondered on this thought a bit more. "It sounded like it had something to do with the Science Facility." The whole thing seemed crazy—

Just then Lucy was dragged out of her thoughts when she heard a low moan coming from about 15 feet away from where she sat. Her breath hitched and her whole body went stiff. She could hear the moans slowly moving in the direction where she was. Her body began to shake uncontrollably.

She could tell it was getting close now. She hastily started to shove her belongings back into her backpack, not wasting a single second in the process. It wasn't until she finally zipped her backpack up that she heard distant voices. She wanted to cry out to them for help, but she knew that if she did, it wouldn't just draw their attention, but the thing's attention as well. She had to make an extremely risky choice. Yell for help now and get the attention of the voices, and the groaning creature, or not yell for help, and possibly escape the monster with out its knowing. They both had their ups and downs, however, she did what she thought was the better option. She knew it would be stupid of her, but she had to do it.

"Please help me!"

"Did you hear that? It sounded like someone!" She heard a small voice yell in the distance. She was right; it did draw the attention of the voices.

But she wasn't in the clear yet, now her problem increased tenfold, because it wasn't just the voices that heard her, the monster was even closer than before. With just a few scoots backwards, she was able to put a little more distance between the creature and herself. She let out another small cry of fear. She could hear one of the voices start to yell at the other. "This is it," Lucy cried to herself in defeat. "This is where I'm going to die, because I'm not strong enough." The thing was closing in on her now.

Then she remembered. The gun.

She quickly reached into the side pouch in her backpack where the gun was housed. She hesitantly pointed it at the _What-was-once-a-human-being's_ heart. Even though it couldn't be human anymore, she couldn't help but feel guilt soak through her soul. The thought of killing other things had never appealed to her. She didn't know why people found joy in hunting. All that aside, she pulled the trigger…

Nothing happened.

"W-what?" Complete and utter shock and failure washed over her until she realized her mistake. She forgot the bullets.

"How could I be so stupid?" She cried once more. Now she was going to die and she couldn't do anything to defend herself.

Just then, she saw a figure running towards her. There was a second figure a little further behind. Lucy's tears of sadness were quickly replaced with tears of joy.

The happiness didn't last for long though. The creature was basically on top of her now, and she had to resort to scooting further away. But it was no use. She was up against a wall. She had nowhere to go. The creature fell on top of her. She tried to push it away by placing both of her hands on its shoulders. She could see the bloodthirsty look in its eyes, and feel its harsh breaths on her face. She kept pushing it off of her, but she knew she couldn't keep it up for much longer.

Just when she was about to give up, the figure kicked the creature off of her. She watched as the figure brutally bashed a steel pipe to its head. She had to turn away. It was too much for her to handle in the mental state that she was in at the moment.

When she was sure he was done, and it was dead, she turned to look at her savior. He was a tall and buff guy; He had long, messy, black hair. His whole body was covered in piercings, and his face wore a rather harsh scowl.

"What're ya lookin at?" He grunted when he caught her examining him. "N-n-nothing!" She squeaked. Even though he saved her, he still was pretty terrifying.

"Gajeel *huff* how can you *huff* run *huff* *huff* so fast." A small blunette girl ran up beside the taller man, whose name is apparently Gajeel. She was short, but all the same she could tell that she was around her age.

There was a long silence. It ended when the small girl decided to speak. She let out an awkward cough. "So," She spoke out quickly "I'm Levy, and this is Gajeel. It's nice to meet you! Um, what is your name?" she spoke with a rather sweet tone of voice, awkwardness aside.

"Oh, hi, I'm Lucy it's nice to meet you both too! Thanks for saving me by the way, I would've been a gonner if you guys cam a second later." Lucy spoke a bit sheepishly. It was nice to see some real people instead of those creatures for a change.

"Yeah, sorry. We would have gotten there sooner if it weren't for Gajeel being so stubborn." She scolded as she turned to Gajeel. Lucy would admit, it was quite funny the way the petite girl scolding the tall, bulky boy. She couldn't help but let out a chuckle by how cute it was watching her chide the large man as he averted his eyes from her.

"If we didn't come sooner the infected might have gotten you." She said again seriously. Lucy cocked her head to the side "Infected?" She said, a bit confused by what exactly Levy was talking about. "Oh yeah, sorry! Of course you wouldn't know what that means since we made it up!" Levy let out a sheepish laugh. "That's the word Gajeel and I have been using to describe the people who have been infected with the disease that caused this whole thing." She stated while turning to Gajeel, only for him responding with the nod of his head confirming her words. Lucy nodded her head as well. "That make only makes sense." She agreed.

"Well, where were you heading? Are you alone?" Levy asked curiosity apparent in her voice. Normally Lucy wouldn't be so open with this sort of information, since she just met them and all, but she felt like she could trust Levy for some reason. She seemed really nice, and she wouldn't be the kind of person that would hurt her.

"Well, I'm heading to Magnolia. I just came from Crocus. It's really bad there. There are what you call "infected" all over the streets, so I thought that it would be a good idea to go somewhere where the population isn't as big. Magnolia seemed like just the place. And, I'm not with anyone." She confessed.

"No way! We're headed to Magnolia too! Gajeel's house is there and we need to pick up a few things. If you want, you could tag along with us!" Levy's words were bubbling with excitement. Lucy was about to answer her when Gajeel beat her to it. "No way in Hell am I letting some stranger tag along with us!" He suddenly blurted. Levy scowled at him, making him flinch slightly. "Come on Gajeel!" She begged, latching herself onto his arm. Lucy didn't fail to notice Gajeel's bright red blush, even though he still tried to act tuff.

"Fine." He mumbled, giving into Levy's Pleading. "She can come along." He mumbled under his breath. "YES!" Levy cheered like a little kid at his answer and rushed over to Lucy grabbing her arm and dragging her with them.

Maybe she can survive this thing after all.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN**

Hey everyone! I'm so sorry I haven't updated in a while. And I Mean While. I hope you all enjoy this long awaited chapter, and continue to read my story even though I SUCK at updating.

ps: this is one of my favorite chapters so far! WHOOP WHOOP! enjoy:)

"So, what all do you know about this whole virus thing?" Lucy asked, curiosity and a bit of eagerness dwelling in her words, hoping that Levy would know more about this than she knew herself. Considering the fact that she knew next to nothing about this thing that so suddenly popped up into her life out of nowhere. Not to mention that the odds of her dying everyday were increased by about 100 due to this added threat. She was just hoping for anything that might give her hope that someone, anyone, was trying to figure out some sort of cure or something that might be able to put a stop to this.

Levy pondered. "Well, I do know that the whole thing started in the science facility. That's the only detail that I am positive is correct." Lucy lost a bit of hope right off the bat from her answer. She already knew this detail from her little incident with the radio. She had visible disappointment on her face, but went unnoticed by Levy as she continued to chatter on about what she knew about the Virus.

"There was a warning that popped up on my TV while Gajeel and I were watching a movie. Luckily for us we were both together at the time, I don't really know if I would have been able to make it this far if Gajeel wasn't here with me." She put a loving hand on his broad shoulder as they walked. They both had a light blush dusting their cheeks at the touch (Although, Gajeel would deny this later). Lucy let out quick, awkward cough, signaling that she was indeed, still very present with them.

Levy let out a small squeak and jumped away from Gajeel, while he just grunted and crossed his arms over his chest. There was silence. Levy looked at Lucy, Gajeel looked at Levy, Lucy looked at a brick wall. The awkward tension was so thick it could be cut with a butter knife. It was Levy who chose to speak first.

"So… umm… did you wanna know more about this whole virus thingy… or whatever?" This caught Lucy's attention again. "Yeah! Uh, that would be great!" The awkward tension in the air cleared after they began talking for a while.

"Yep! So overall, an infected passing it through the victim's bloodstream spreads the virus. This is probably the most likely reason they bite, to get it into the victim's blood. That's my Hypothesis anyway. For all I know I could be absolutely wrong." Levy stated, a small frown on her petite face. "It could be possible that my calculations are incorrect considering the fact that the facility released next to no information about the whole sickness. All they said is that they are working on a cure. I don't really believe they could have gotten that far, considering that the Science Facility would be the hot spot for infected since it was where the virus first spread." Levy's frown worsened. Lucy saw this and decided to speak up, "Well, yeah it seems bad, but they did say they were working on a cure, right? So at least we know they have an idea of what's going on, so we don't to have to worry!" She said this more to convince herself than to convince Levy, but it worked nonetheless.

"You're right! We shouldn't loose hope just yet!" Levy fist pumped with a determined grin on her face. Lucy smiled too. She has two companions now, she doesn't need to give up hope yet! All of a sudden, Gajeel stopped in his tracks.

"We're here." He stated, still looking forward at the town in front of them. "Wow! We talked so much I didn't even notice we were so close!" Levy babbled on for the rest of the way to the house, sharing fun stories about her and Gajeel, and just anything she could think of until they finally got there. Saying Lucy was having fun was an understatement. In fact, she didn't want the cute stories to end. It was pretty entertaining hearing stories about how Levy stayed up for a whole two days reading a marathon of her favorite books, or hearing the story of how Gajeel had to dress as a girl for an entire week from loosing a bet.

"And then I got new shoes and a dress for him and everything!" Levy and Lucy could barely breath from the amount of laughter they were producing. Gajeel, on the other hand, was not having a blast. In fact, the aura that came off of him was so negative it frightened Lucy slightly.

"Yeah and then I put little bows in his hair and-" Gajeel abruptly cut off Levy. "We're here! I'm gonna go inside and grab the stuff we need. You two stay right here and don't get your asses into trouble." He said most of this looking directly at Levy. He walked inside and shut the door rather harshly behind him. Lucy and Levy both turned to each other and let out another giggle.

"What is he going to get in there anyway?" Lucy asked in between giggles.

"Well you see, Gajeel is a big fan of anything iron. He works at the mall-err- I guessed he worked at the mall, you know? Since the whole virus thing and what not. But whatever you get what I'm saying. Anyway, he worked at the mall at a piercing parlor," This fact honestly did not surprise Lucy at all due to the fact that Gajeel had more piercings than stars in the sky. "but in his free time, he is really into cars and blacksmithing. He fixes cars and makes weapons and cool tools out of iron and pretty much any other metal he can get his hands on. Saying he is obsessed is an understatement." Levy sweat dropped at the last part of her statement. All Lucy could think was: "Damn, how much more hardcore could this guy get? Piercer, cars, blacksmithing? All he needs to complete his image is some death metal screamo rock music and he'll be good."

Lucy decided to sit down on the steps of the porch. Levy followed suite. Lucy wouldn't lie, the walk here from crocus was a long time, and her legs needed some rest. She decided to start up a conversation to pass the time away.

"So, tell me more fun stories about you and Gajeel." Lucy requested with a ghost of a smirk on her face. Levy sighed and chuckled to herself thinking about all the stories she'd already told. "What more is there to tell you? I've already told all of the funny and embarrassing ones on the way here!" She let out another giggle at the thought of the stories that she shared. Lucy smiled and thunk for a second on what kind of story she should ask for. Then she thought of it, the perfect story.

"What about the story of how you too met?" She knowingly jeered.

"Hmmm?" Levy hummed. Lucy rolled her eyes. "You and Gajeel!" Levy paused for a moment and had a scrunched up expression on her face that showed she was deep in her thoughts, like she was trying to recall something to memory that had hid itself away in the back of her mind.

"A HA!" Levy jumped up with such enthusiasm that Lucy had to jump a little ways back due to the sudden surprise of her actions. Levy, however, didn't really pay attention and started her next story right away.

"Well it all started when I was in the second grade. I was sitting in a tree at recess reading my favorite of the Harry Potter books aloud when this boy ran over to the tree. He had been huffing from running across the playground. I eventually ignored him and continued my reading aloud. Then he just sat under the tree until recess ended. The next day the same thing happened. I was sitting in the tree reading my book while he sat under me. This happened everyday for the rest of the week and the week after. It eventually just became tradition. Me reading my book aloud, and him sitting under me. Until one day I decided to read in my head. He sat underneath me and looked up with a confused expression on his face and asked me why I wasn't telling my story today. I told him that I was reading in my head and he said it wasn't fair because he wanted to hear the story too. It was so cute!" Levy gushed.

"Oi! I'm not cute Shrimp! You take that back!" Gajeel barked his answer, surprising both Levy and Lucy out of their wits.

"AH! Gajeel! How long have you been standing there for?" squeaked Levy. Her voice was at such a high pitch she could have been mistaken for a mouse. Lucy should have sounded no different than Levy with the scream she had almost let out.

"Since you started yer little story bout us. I wanna finish it!" He barked again, but Lucy could tell that he was just acting tuff now the tone of his voice was less harsh than before after the mentioning the story.

"So, ya see, after Shrimp stopped readin' the book, I was confused because, ya know, she'd been readin' it for weeks. So I started shakin' the branch till she fell. Then I caught 'er and told 'er to read to me. Done." He sped up toward the ending of the story, "Now let's get goin' I don't wanna be here longer than we gotta." Gajeel blurted trying to change the subject. "It's dangerous here."

"Alright if you say so." Said Lucy in a sarcastic tone. Her and Levy followed Gajeel to the garage where he opened the door and revealed Lots of blacksmithing ovens and machines along with work tables, tools, a couch, and a ton of other clutter. Standing out against most of these objects was a jet black Suburban.

"Wow. That's a lot of stuff." Lucy said in awe. Really. It was a lot of stuff. And since Lucy lived in an apartment, she was a bit more amazed with this garage and the amount of stuff in it then she should have been.

"Alright, everyone hop in the car and grab a weapon. You'll need it if we run into any infected long the way. Shrimp, you sit up here with me. Bunny Girl," Lucy cringed at the nickname. "Yer in the back on look out incase any dead people decide they wanna hitch a ride on my car. You better take care of that if it happens, got it? Gajeel had such a serious expression that Lucy felt uncomfortable even responding, it's like he would rip out your soul if you even blinked. She nodded her head in understanding, and hopped in the backseat of the car. She sat in the seat and hunched down a bit. Is this really how the world is going to be from now on? Is this really how the rest of her life-

Gajeel started the engine of the car, and jerked her out of her thoughts. They left the house with a trunk full of supplies and were off. Levy asked why Gajeel closed the garage door if he was just going to abandon the house, but he replied with a snort and short answer, but Lucy zoned out their playful bickering. She was too occupied in her thoughts, and that's about how the car ride played out.

XOXOXOX

It was about dusk when Lucy felt the Jerk from the car stopping. When she looked outside of the window all she could see were trees. "Where are we? Why are we stopped?" She asked uncertainty slowly entering her voice. She looked up in the front view mirror and could see the cold stare of Gajeel peering back at her.

"The tank's almost empty. I'm gettin' outta the car to refill it." Gajeel grunted in a harsh tone that Lucy was pretty used to by now. She just assumed was his personality and nothing personal

"Do you want me to cover for you?" She asked, unbuckling her seat belt and preparing by grabbing the knife she had picked out from the back of the car before they left, but Gajeel stopped her.

"Nah. I don't need yer help. I can do it on my own."

He said in his usual cold, gruff tone. But Lucy insisted.

"Please let me help, I know I came off as weak when we first met, but I think I can do it this time. Please. Let me help you." Lucy insisted. She would feel so horrible and worthless if he rejected her help. She just wanted to pay back what she owed him. After all, he and Levy saved her life. She wouldn't even be here right now if it weren't for them.

Gajeel let out a deep sigh, as if contemplating whether to let her help or not. "Tell ya what. I can Take care of myself, so I'm gonna go out alone," Lucy felt like crying. She wouldn't cry but oh God did she want to cry right now. She was about to come up with a way to hide her sadness, until he continued. "but, you could do me a favor by protecting something even more important to me than my safety." He gestured to the peacefully snoozing bluenette in the front seat.

Lucy let a small smile form on her face, "Of course." She couldn't help but be a little envious of the bond that the two had formed together. Growing up Lucy never really had any friends. In fact now that she really thought about it, the only real friend she ever had was Cana. And she was drunk all the time. Wow…some friends she had. But at least she could feel lucky she came across two great people like Gajeel and especially Levy during this whole disaster.

By the time Gajeel had returned to the driver's seat, it was already pitch black outside, not to mention freezing in the car. Levy was physically trembling in the front seat, while Lucy sat silently in the back. Lucy controlled her shaking, but couldn't really hide it anyway she tried.

From the slam of the car door Levy was up in an instant. And then it was really obvious how cold she felt.

"G-g-g-Gajeel? C-c-can you t-t-t-turn on the h-heat, p-p-please?"

Levy practically begged, her petite form violently shaking. I felt bad for her, but would have been more sympathetic if I wasn't freezing my ass off as well.

"Sorry Shrimp. It takes too much juice to run the heat. But I do have an alternative idea," Gajeel spoke in a surprisingly calm voice.

"W-w-w-what's t-t-the alternative?" Levy asked, desperate for any kind of warmth at all. Lucy couldn't deny that she felt extremely desperate for any kind of heat source either.

"I can make a fire outside if ya gimme five minutes." Gajeel said in a rather proud tone. He probably felt like the manliest guy on the plant right now, being able to fix all of the problems that occured. Lucy would have made a snarky comment on this if she weren't so damn cold herself! Curse the cold! Ruining all her sly remarks!

Gajeel hopped out of the car and opened the trunk. After he rummaged around a bit, the trunk door slammed shut. Lucy and Levy watched until he blended into the woods with all of the trees and darkness.

Not even a second later He reappeared, sprinting back to the car faster than the speed of light. Lucy kind of jumped in her seat at the unexpected chain of events. The car door opened and shut, and it was like Gajeel literally teleported onto the driver's seat.

"What's going on?!" Lucy half yelled whispered. Panic swept through the car at the fact that Gajeel was in and out of the woods like that. Gajeel, however, ignored the question and started to fiddle with the keys, trying to put the key into the ignition. He successfully started the car, and pushed down the gas, but the car would not move.

"Damnit!" He yelled, pounding the steering wheel with his fists. This officially made Levy and Lucy full out panic. They both bombarded Gajeel with questions on what was happening. Gajeel conitued to ignore the questions and hopped out of the car yet again. He walked around the car, surveying what could possibly be the problem.

Lucy decided that if Gajeel wasn't going to tell her what was going on, she would find out herself. She peered out of her window, squinting her eyes; desperately trying to decipher what could possibly have Gajeel of all people so panicked. She could see movement in the distance, but nothing out of the ordinary. She squinted her eyes just a little more trying to adjust to the darkness and-

"Oh God…" Lucy let out, panic levels shooting through the roof.

"What?! What is it Lu-chan?!" Levy asked terror inside her voice.

"Look outside.." was all Lucy could say her voice cracking in between syllables.

"OH MY GOD! We have to get out of here!" Levy screamed so loud half the woods could have heard. But Lucy didn't really blame her. She was just as scared as her, because outside that window was more infected than she had ever seen.

And they were faster than normal.

"Oh God! Gajeel is still out there!" Lucy needed to calm Levy. She was getting close to tears and the infected were starting to get closer and faster than before. Plus they were headed straight for their direction, adding to that, the car wasn't working, and on top of it all Gajeel was still outside of the car attempting to fix said broken car. All and all it was a pretty bad situation that couldn't really be helped unless some magical flying cats with wings showed up and saved them all. But let's be real, in what sort of alternative universe would that ever happen in.

The infected were getting dangerously close to the car by now, and Gajeel was still outside, and Levy still dazed.

"It's alright Levy, Please, we have to be able to get through this come on! We both have to be strong like Gajeel! He's risking his life for us!" The words that Lucy said really snapped Levy out of whatever daze she was in because she got pumped up.

"Yeah! You're right Lu-chan! For Gaje- AHHH!" There was a giant thump and one side of the car dropped to the ground in a thump. Soon after that Gajeel reentered the car and started the ignition faster than lightning.

And just like that the car zoomed off and the infected were left behind in the dust.

XOXOXOX

The car ride to "nowhere in particular" involved Levy sobbing into Gajeel's shirt, Gajeel "ignoring" it and then complaining that it was too distracting for his driving, and Lucy lost in her thoughts again.

After about another hour and a half of riding, the car stopped. This time it was in front of a small abandoned building that was literally in the middle of nowhere. There were just fields and trees around it. It was the only building in sight for miles. And since it was almost midnight, Gajeel decided it would be a good idea if they camped inside for the night. No one objected, so everyone got out of the car and each grabbed a pack, blanket, and weapon.

Lucy was the first to enter the building. It was dark and she could barely see. Gajeel entered soon after with levy by his side, and they joined Lucy near the center of the room. As Lucy knelt down to start unpacking her stuff, she heard shuffling, but brushed it off as Levy or Gajeel.

All of a sudden the lights of the building flashed on blinding her eyes.

She heard a calm, female voice say "Remain where you are, and don't try anything stupid."

Lucy did not dare move a muscle at the tone of the woman's voice. She dropped her weapon on her bag and raised her hands above her head immediately. Her vision still burned and she could not see much, but what she could see were shelves. Was she in a warehouse?

The woman spoke again, "I repeat, remain calm, and do not try anything stupid."

Lucy wanted to speak up and tell the woman that they pose no threat and were merely looking for some shelter for the night. However, she didn't get the chance to when someone else spoke.

"Awww, c'mon Erza! Cut them some slack, they seem like nice people!" This voice was different; it had a warm feel to it rather than the rather cold and proper tone of the woman. It definitely belonged to a male too.

Lucy's vision was back to normal. She scanned the room to see what was happening. She saw a tall woman with scarlet hair, she looked a little older than herself, the woman was holding a katana in one hand and the other rest on her hip. She had beautiful facial features and was wearing… armor? It wasn't modern armor either, it was medieval armor. Though, Lucy wouldn't be one to judge due to the situation she was in at the moment.

She turned her head to the other side of the room where she heard the male's voice. It was a boy around her age. He was definitely taller than her; he had a pretty nice build to him. Lots of muscles. Although she could only see his biceps due to the t-shirt he was wearing with the dragon pattern. He had pink, cherry blossom hair, and what she could see of his face-

Her heart skipped a beat.

He was handsome.

No, he wasn't just handsome, he was hot.

Her hands started to feel hot and clammy. Blood rushed to her cheeks and her heart went a thousand miles a minute as she looked at him. Was that an angelic glow coming from behind him?

Oh wait, no. It was just the extremely bright lights blinding her at the moment.

The said boy walked in her direction and stopped in front of her.

He reached out a hand to help her up. "Yo! I'm Natsu, and this is our base, Fairy Tail!"

 **AN**

 **Yay! Natsu has finally appeared! I wonder what will happen next? :D**


End file.
